Farrukhsiyar’s Farmans

In 1715, an English mission led by John Surman to the court of the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar secured three famous farmans, giving the Company many valuable privileges in Bengal, Gujarat and Hyderabad. The farmans thus obtained were regarded the Magna Carta of the Company. Their important terms were—

● In Bengal, the Company’s imports and exports were exempted from additional customs duties excepting the annual payment of 3,000 rupees as settled earlier.

● The Company was permitted to issue dastaks (passes) for the transportation of such goods.

● The Company was permitted to rent more lands around Calcutta.

● In Hyderabad, the Company retained its existing

privilege of freedom from duties in trade and had to pay the prevailing rent only for Madras.

● In Surat, for an annual payment of 10,000 rupees, the East India Company was exempted from the levy of all duties.

● It was decreed that the coins of the Company minted at Bombay were to have currency throughout the Mughal empire.

Apparently, the English East India Company managed to earn a number of trading concessions in Bengal from the Mughal authority by means of flattery and diplomacy.

But the English had to vanquish the French before they

Formative Years of the East India Company

1600 : The East India Company is established. 1609 : William Hawkins arrives at Jahangir’s court.

1611 : Captain Middleton obtains the permission of the Mughal governor of Surat to trade there.

1613 : A permanent factory of East India Company is established at Surat.

1615 : Sir Thomas Roe, the ambassador of King James I, arrives at Jahangir’s court. By 1618, the ambassador succeeds in obtaining two farmans (one each from the emperor and Prince Khurram) confirming free trade with exemption from inland tolls.

1616 : The Company establishes its first factory in the south in Masulipatnam.

1632 : The Company gets the golden farman from the Sultan of Golconda ensuring safety and prosperity of their trade.

1633 : The Company establishes its first factory in east India in Hariharpur, Balasore (Odisha).

1639 : The Company gets the lease of Madras from a local king. 1651 : The Company is given permission to trade at Hooghly

(Bengal).

1662 : The British King, Charles II, is given Bombay as dowry for marrying a Portuguese princess (Catherine of Braganza).

1667 : Aurangzeb gives the English a farman for trade in Bengal. 1691 : The Company gets the imperial order to continue their trade

in Bengal in lieu of payment of Rs 3,000 a year.

1717 : The Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar issues a farman, called Magna Carta of the Company, giving the Company a large number of trade concessions.

could be rid of competitors and establish their complete sway over India.